Finding Materials in the Library

Circulating books on Italian language are shelved by Library of Congress call number PC on the 5th floor, and Italian literature is shelved by Library of Congress call number PQ 4000 + on the 4th floor. VHSes are also on the 4th floor, and shelved by accession number instead of call no. (example: 356277). DVDs and cds are on the first floor by the Circulation Desk. New books spend some initial time on a display on the first floor.

Catalog Search Tips

If you're searching for criticism on an author, be sure to search under Subject -- a useful subject heading to choose in the results is the writer's name and criticism and interpretation. This will bring up subject headings like: Boccaccio Giovanni 1313 1375 Criticism And Interpretation. You'll see the number of books available under each heading.

For Dante Alighieri, search using first name first.

To virtually browse the shelves, do a browse search on Library of Congress Call #

The catalog is fiercely Anglocentric, and tildes ~ and accents ' confuse it. This is generally true for most databases.

Use wild cards, for example, italian liter* as a keyword or subject search brings all variants.

The Dictionary of Literary Biography(DLB) is a large series that looks at specific genres, national writing/writers, and literary movements. Searching the library catalog using "dictionary of literary biography and ital*" will retrieve at least 6 different volumes. These are shelved on the 4th floor and available for check out. A sample below:

Seventeenth-century Italian poets and dramatists PS221 .D55 v.339

Italian prose writers, 1900-1945 PS221 .D55 v.264

Twentieth-century Italian poets. Second series PS221 .D55 v.128

Books: Language 5th floor & online

'Collins Italian Dictionary' contains thousands of new references to cover all the latest vocabulary, culture notes to broaden users' knowledge of Italian culture, and web addresses to enable further research. This is the ideal dictionary for learners of Italian.